Heading to Karbala

Southward Trek

Wally Skalij / LAT

Shia Muslim women trek from Baghdad toward the holy city of Karbala for the holiday week that commemorates the end of the mourning period for the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, who was martyred in the 7th century. The procession had been banned for years under the reign of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim.

Shia Muslim women trek from Baghdad toward the holy city of Karbala for the holiday week that commemorates the end of the mourning period for the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, who was martyred in the 7th century. The procession had been banned for years under the reign of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim. (Wally Skalij / LAT)